Placed second in 12 team points table

Former champions U Mumba overcame a late challenge before prevailing eventually over the Tamil Thalaivas by a narrow margin of 35-32 in the ongoing 11th season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) being played at the Noida Indoor Stadium, Noida on Thursday night.

Riding on top performances by their key raiders Manjeet (10 points) and Ajit Chouhan (8 points), U Mumba in the process registered their sixth win in ten games and achieved a season best of second place with 34 points (Six wins, Three Loss and One Tie) displacing reigning champions Puneri Paltan to third place in the 12 team points table.  The morale boosting win was also U Mumba’s eighth against Tamil Thalaivas in 12 outings over the seasons, and came at the back of their loss in their previous outing by a 39-48 scoreline against table toppers Haryana Steelers in their previous outing earlier this week, that had ended their three consecutive match winning campaign.

On the match front, the first half of the clash saw a dominant performance from U Mumba. In the 6th minute, U Mumba executed a successful ALL OUT, taking out all of the Tamil Thalaivas players on the mat. This gave the Sunil Kumar-led team a significant advantage early in the game as their aggressive and effective play allowed them to take control of the match in the opening period. In the 18th minute, U Mumba's Ajit Chouhan pulled off a SUPER RAID, taking out two Tamil Thalaivas defenders that allowed his team to further extend their supremacy and lead by an impressive margin of 11 points (23-12) at the end of first half  . U Mumba by the end of the first half.

The second half saw U Mumba maintain their lead and control of the match as Ajit and Manjeet performed well in tandem, to ensure a 10 points lead with five minutes remaining in the game.

It took Thalaivas Sachin Tanwar 24 minutes in the match to score his first point of the match, as he took out out U Mumba's Amirmohammad Zafardanesh, in the face of his team’s two premier raiders – Narender Kandola and Sachin underperformance who failed to earn any points throughout the match. With the match coming to an end, Tamil Thalaivas’ Moein Shafaghi turned into a raider and earned a Super Raid to get Sunil Kumar, Sombir and Manjeet out and inflict an All-Out on U Mumba. But it was a little too late in the match as U Mumba went on to secure a close three-point win

U Mumba next take on season six winners Bengaluru Bulls in their next outing on Monday, 18 November at 9.00 pm, while Tamil Thalaivas’, placed 10th will square off against ninth place Bengal Warriorz on Saturday, 16 November, in their quest to end their four match losing record.

PKL 2024 Schedule on Friday, 15 November:

Match 1 – Patna Pirates Vs Bengal Warriorz – 8 pm  
Match 2 – Jaipur Pink Panthers Vs Gujarat Giants – 9 pm